States interact with their national communities abroad in very different ways. In some cases, they actively support and protect them. In other cases, they co-opt and exploit their national communities abroad in that they reach out to them in order to tap into, thus benefitting domestically, from their economic and financial potentials or to garner political support. In still other cases, they repress or coerce their communities abroad, thus conceiving the latter not as an asset but as a possible challenge or threat that needs to be controlled. Against this background, the chapter first explores the general motivations and objectives as to why states interact with their national communities abroad, in the form of “support,” “co-optation,” and “repression.” Then, it discusses key practices that states employ in this interaction, along three substantive dimensions, namely: diplomacy and consular, economy and social, and security. Next, possible drivers that condition whether, how, and for what reason states interact with their communities abroad are presented. This is followed by a discussion on how the countries covered in this volume were selected. The concluding section presents the plan of the book and briefly summarizes the individual chapters.

Given the centrality of communities to the care of cultural heritage, this chapter explores how the UK legal and non-legal instruments recognise the concept of the UK, as a community and as a network of communities. This chapter identifies and analyses the varied communities of care that directly and indirectly care for cultural heritage. These include international, national and local communities, but also institutional communities and those involved in law-making and policy. It also considers the smaller-scale communities that form to challenge the status quo and who seek justice, or wish to assume responsibility for the care of cultural heritage. What becomes apparent is the interrelationship between communities of care and the shared responsibilities at times for the care of cultural heritage, which is all too evident in the context of World Heritage sites in the UK.